The soldier, the spy, the archer
by MysticFantasy
Summary: When someone notices how close Steve and Natasha are, they decide that it's time for their happiness to end. A near fatal mission gives them that chance to turn things around in their favor. [Warning. There will be some forms of abuse later on]
1. Chapter 1

**The soldier, the spy and the archer**

**By: MysticFantasy**

**.**

_Story prompt provided by_ dayjuapallnightwhite

.

.

Chapter 1

.

.

Natasha lightly sighed in blissful content.

The early morning sun was just starting to flow through the curtains which told her that soon it would be time for her and her partner to get up.

That was something that sounded like too much work at the moment. Right now, it was just too comfortable and tempting to stay as they were.

Lying in each others arms in his bed.

It was heaven.

"Morning." his voice greeted with signs that he was still half asleep.

"Good morning, Captain." Natasha greeted with a smirk.

"Is it time to get up already?" Steve asked as he turned onto his back and rubbed his eyes.

"Not yet." she answered.

"Good." Steve replied. "I don't want to get up yet."

"This coming from the man who is always up at five to go on an hour run through the city?" Natasha teased.

"Even _I_ like to sleep in from time to time." Steve replied.

"Guess Tony and Clint are starting to rub off on you." Natasha said.

Steve chuckled.

"Guess I better get up then." he said and tried to sit up only to be snatched back down.

"No, stay." Natasha said.

"If you insist." Steve said with a smirk. "I wish we could stay like this all day."

"Me too." Natasha agreed.

It would be nice to stay in bed with Steve like this for an entire day. Just to relax and let the world go on without them for a day.

Unfortunately, the ringing from her cell phone shattered that dream.

With an annoyed sigh, Natasha reached over to the nightstand and grabbed her phone.

"Hello?"

Steve did his best to ignore what the person on the other line was saying. Mostly because he hoped that he and Natasha wouldn't have to go in today but it didn't seem likely.

"Alright. We'll be there." Natasha said before ending the call.

"Can we just pretend the call never came?" Steve asked.

"I wish that just as much as you do but we have to go." Natasha replied as she stood up, wearing only one of Steve's grey army shirts. They were perfect for nightwear. Fitting almost two dress sizes larger than she normally wears.

She found it very comfortable when they shared a bed together. It was much better than her stiff bed in her apartment here in the city, Stark Tower or at the SHIELD base.

But it was nice that she could come here when she wanted and no one knew. Having so many places, all over the world, no one suspected that she came to Steve's most of the time.

And they both prefered it that way. They didn't want anyone to know about their secret relationship just yet.

For now, they were both happy having a secret that even SHIELD didn't know.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**By: MysticFantasy**

**.**

**.**

"A mission?! He's kidding, right?" Tony asked. "Right?"

"Nope." Steve answered. "We're heading out at the end of the week."

Tony lightly pouted but it went ignored by the rest. They had learned a long time ago that the Stark did it mostly for attention if Pepper wasn't around.

The soldie left the inventor to tinker with his suit for the upcoming battle. Taking the elevator to a few floors up, Steve came to his private floor that Tony had provided him despite Steve's claims he didn't need a whole floor to himself.

But on the nights that he did stay at the tower and Natasha was around, he didn't complain. And there in his living room was the said woman.

"How'd you know I'd be here?" he asked as he went over to sit with her.

"Call it a lucky guess." she answered.

"Did you tap my phone again?"

"Maybe." she answered with a playful smirk as she moved to sit across his lap.

"Something on your mind?" Steve asked knowingly. "You only snuggle when you want to tell me something."

"You can't prove that." Natasha said with her smirk still in place but then shrank a little. "You're right. There is something that I need to tell you before this mission takes place."

"Are you nervous about it?" Steve asked.

"Somewhat." Natasha answered.

"Well, what is it?" Steve asked. "I've never known you to be nervous about anything."

"Then it has to be something pretty serious, huh?"

Steve nodded and waited for the spy to tell him what was making her so nervous.

Just as Natasha was about to open her mouth to tell him what was wrong when the accented voice of Jarvis rang out.

_"Captain Rogers. Agent Romanoff. Director Fury has requested that you and the Avengers meet on the Helicarrier. The mission that was planned for later this week has been moved due to an emergency situation."_

"Tell him we're on our way, please." Steve said as he and Natasha scrambled up.

The soldier was about to head to his bedroom where his duffle bag was located when Natasha grabbed his arm.

"Steve, wait!"

"Natasha, I know that you're nervous about this mission but I promise that I will do my best to make sure that nothing happens to you. I'll make sure of that. Now let's hurry. It must be something bad for Fury to call us in so early."

Natasha nodded and hoped that she would be able to tell Steve what made her so on edge once this mission was over and they were safely back home.

She just hoped everyone was still in once piece for that to happen.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**By: MysticFantasy**

**.**

**.**

"Hey."

Steve looked up and saw Natasha standing a few feet away.

"Be careful out there." she said. "This mission sounds pretty tough."

"Yeah. It does. I'll be careful. Make sure you're careful too." he said as he walked over and embraced her.

"I'm always careful." Natasha replied with a smirk. "You're the one that needs to looked after."

"Not as badly as Clint and Tony." Steve replied with a matching smirk.

"Ok. You got me there." Natasha admitted.

Steve smiled and quickly grabbed his shield. They were both about to head to the quinjet when Natasha grabbed his hand.

"Steve, really. Be careful. I have something I really need to talk to you about when we get back from this." she said.

"I promise I'll be careful. But what is it that you need to tell me?"

"Not now. We both need to go into this mission with clear heads and no distractions." she answered.

"Alright." Steve agreed. "As soon as we're both back, safe and sound, we'll talk. Ok?"

"Ok."

"Good." Steve said with a smile and kissed her forehead lovingly. "Let's go."

**.**

**l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l**

**l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l**

**.**

"You look like something is on your mind." Clint said as he put the jet in auto pilot as they flew over the ocean.

"There is but it's something private." Natasha replied.

"Trouble in paradise, maybe?" he asked with a grin and hidden hope.

"Nothing at all like that." Natasha answered. "Things between Steve and I are going very well."

"Then what's up? I've never seen you look like that before unless it's something serious." Clint said.

"It's a secret that may be revealed to everyone later." Natasha said.

"Alright." Clint said as he turned serious again.

He was sure that he was doing a good enough job of not letting his jealousy show. He was glad that Natasha found someone to make her happy but he was peeved that it was Steve Rogers.

Then again, he shouldn't have been too surprise the day that the two revealed they were together. With the reputation and looks that Steve possessed, Clint was actually surprised that the man wasn't already taken before they had even met.

He was even more surprised when Steve fell for Natasha and vise versa.

It seemed that Steve's legend of perfection was living up to its expectations.

Even though he wanted Natasha for himself, Clint knew that he was no competition against Captain America. No one could beat him.

The only way to win was if Steve was out of the picture and that wasn't about to happen any time soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**By: MysticFantasy**

**.**

**.**

"Clear the way!"

"Someone get an IV started!"

"What's his pulse?! I need a pulse!"

Natasha tried to follow the gurney as it went toward the emergency room of the Helicarrier but was stopped by metal hands.

"Natasha! You need to get checked out and let them do their jobs!" Tony declared as he managed to hold onto the struggling woman.

Realizing that the billionare was right, Natasha allowed herself to be led to an examination room to be checked out.

She was silent throughout most of the exam but did demand a few tests done right away. The doctor, knowing he shouldn't argue against the Black Widow, agreed to the tests without question.

While she was waiting for her blood to be drawn, Natasha thought back to the situation that got all of them here.

The building they had been going into had exploded not even two minutes after Steve had first gone in. All of them had gotten some wounds from the explosion but were nowhere near as close as Steve who had been inside when it happened.

Tony had come out fine thanks to his armor, Thor and Hulk just shrugged off their injures, Clint recieved a broken arm which would keep him out of the field for a while and she sure felt a painful stab coming from her ankle.

Despite their small and or painful injuries, the five Avengers had stormed the destroyed building and searched for their leader.

It hadn't taken long to find him but they were all shocked and scared to see how injured he was and that he wasn't regaining consciousness.

Now he was in the hands of SHIELD's best and Bruce. The later was there since he knew Steve's anatomy better and to make sure no one snuck off with a sample of Steve's blood.

It had become something for them to be cautious of. Having a person with the perfect version of the super soldier serum was tempting for someone to try to take his blood.

"Agent Romanoff,"

Natasha looked up from her now bandaged ankle to see the doctor looking at her.

"Your results are back." he said as he held the files in his hand tightly.

"Is everything ok?" she asked.

**.**

**l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l**

**l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l~*~*~*~*~*l**

**.**

"How you doing?" Clint asked as he looked up from glaring at the cast on his right arm.

"Perfect. As always." Tony said with a small smirk, hoping to lighten the situation. "How long are you going to be in that?"

"Six weeks at least." Clint answered and spotted Natasha limping over. "Nat."

Thor went over and picked Natasha up in his arms, much to her protest, and set her down on the chair next to the archer.

"How's your ankle?" Tony asked.

"Have to be laid up for two weeks but nothing's broken." she answered sounds a little more relieved than she should sounds for just a twisted ankle.

"Well, that's some good news." Tony said.

"Any news on Steve?" Natasha asked.

"Still in surgery." Tony answered. "We haven't had any word since they went in."

"He'll pull through." Clint said while placing a comforting hand on Natasha's shoulder.

_He always does._ Clint thoght bitterly.

So the wait began. The four sat in silence for two hours when Nick Fury made his appearance.

"Any word?" he asked.

"Nothing." Tony answered.

"I think all of you should go rest for a while." Fury said. "I'll see what I can do to get word about Rogers."

"I do not think that we should leave our captain." Thor said.

"Banner is still with him and I will stay here until you come back." Fury stated.

"I think we should let Romanoff and Barton get some sleep." Tony said.

"Won't be able to sleep very well after everything that's going on right now." Natasha said.

"Still, you should go rest for a while. Soon as I hear word about Rogers I'll get all of you back here." Fury vowed.

"Alright." Tony agreed. "Let's go guys."

Giving the doors to the operating room one last glance, Natasha stood up with Thor's help and followed them toward the sleeping quarters.

Thor followed Natasha all the way to her room before heading to his own.

Once she was alone in her room, Natasha took a hot shower and got into some clean clothes. She changed the bandage on her ankle before sitting on her too soft twin bed.

She hadn't been kidding when she said there was no way she could sleep very well. Her mind was just racing on thoughts of Steve.

Her minds eyes kept seeing Steve lying face down in the pile of rubble from the explosion. The way he looked so broken just lying there motionless.

Even though he was injured, Natasha was glad that he's alive. Thanks to the serum in his blood, he would heal with just enough time.

Soon things would be back to normal. They'd have their regular date nights on Friday, still be partners on missions, have their regular morning training and sparring sessions...

_Oh wait. Not that. I can't._ Natasha thought._ Not for a while._

Natasha laid down on top of her comforter and closed her eyes. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep a wink until she heard about Steve's condition.

For now, she was content to just lie down and give her ankle a break. She didn't want to admit it, even to herself, but it was pretty painful. Thankfully, the pain was fading as she just laid there.

The quiet ticking from the clock on her wall was somewhat hypnotic and allowed Natasha to focus on something other than her concern for her injured boyfriend. She needed to get her mind clear for a while but there were too many things that were on her mind that revolved around him.

The possible future they could have together. Too many posibilities were circling around the news on whether Steve would come out of this alive or not.

She hated to think how her life would be if he died.

_If he dies, then what?_ she asked herself as she folded her hands over her stomach.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**By: MysticFantasy**

**.**

**.**

"I just recieved word of Captain Rogers." Fury announced to the present Avengers sitting at the glass table in the bridge. "His injuries, along with loss of blood, were serious enough for Doctor Banner to see that Rogers has gone into a coma."

The four heroes were silent upon hearing the news of their captain. They hadn't believed that something this serious would happen to him.

It seemed that even the Avengers believed that Captian America was untouchable to almost anything. It was taking this kind of news to remind them that he was still human.

"How long will he be like this? Any indea?" Tony asked.

"Taking the captain's healing abilities into consideration...we're not sure." Fury answered, not sounding or looking happy at the words he just spoke.

Natasha felt torn inside.

Although she believed that Steve did need a break from things, she had not wanted something like this to happen. Even though she hated the news she just heard, she could at least be hopeful that Steve wouldn't be in it for too long. But surely that wold give him more than enough time to recover from his injuries.

Possibly, a normal man would have died from the injuries he sustained or would have been in a coma they might never wake up from.

"When can we see our comrade?" Thor asked.

"They're setting him up in a private room right now. As soon as he's set in, Banner will come and get us." Fury answered.

"Will the captain be guarded?" Thor asked.

"There will be a guard on duty day and night. There's going to be limited access for visiting hours." Fury answered. "If any of you would like to take a shift, just let me know."

The four nodded and it wasn't long before Bruce arrived to take them to see their friend.

"Just be prepared." Bruce said before they walked through a door where an armed SHIELD agent stood at attention. "He...is pretty hurt."

Natasha took in a deep breath to brace herself and followed the doctor into the room. It did little to help her.

The second she saw Steve, she nearly broke down. Her years of training was the only thing that helped her keep it together.

Bruce hadn't been joking when he said that Steve had been very hurt.

The super soldier who could cause crooks to cease their actions with just his presence suddenly looked so small and helpless. Nearly his whole head was wrapped in white bandages. Only his eyes, nose and mouth weren't covered.

An oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth, a cast covered his right arm and another cast could be spotted under the blanket on his left leg. Any other injuries could not be seen from under the bandages and blanket.

Numerous machines were monitoring his vitals and were the only noise in the room at the moment. It was so quiet that Natasha was sure that she could hear the drip from the IV.

The group stood around the bed and looked down at their injured friend. It was a sight that they were not use to seeing. The most injured they would ever see Steve would be a few bruised ribs and the longest he would ever stay put to recover would be a day and a half at most.

But now Steve was lying completely motionless before them and would stay that way for a few months.

It was something they were not ready to face.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**By: MysticFantasy**

**.**

**.**

Clint walked to Natasha's suite, hoping to have a few words with her. Hopefully, words that will get her mind off of the super soldier.

He knocked on her door and waited for an answer. He didn't have to wait long until Natasha opened the door.

"Hey." the archer greeted and held out a bag of the only fast food he knew Natasha enjoyed. "Thought you might be up for some food after being in here since we got back from the med bay."

"Thanks." Natasha said and allowed him in. They sat together at her kitchen table while Natasha began eating.

"So, how are you handling what's going on with Steve?" Clint asked.

"A little scared but I know that Steve is going to be alright. I just hope that he isn't under for too long." she answered.

"Well, if you need to talk to anyone about this, you can always talk to me." Clint offered.

"Thank you, Clint." Natasha said. "I think that if I'm able to see him enough, I'll believe that he'll be able to heal quick enough."

Clint remained silent as she continued to eat. He honestly hadn't believed that the relationship between Steve and Natasha would get this serious but it looked like it had gotten just as strong without him noticing.

He was going to have to do something about it if he wanted to get Natasha to himself. But it wasn't going to be as easy as he wanted.

With the super soldier laid up for a while, it would be easy for Natasha to feel lonely. Without her number one man in her life, it wouldn't take long for her to feel the need for comfort from someone.

And that was where he stepped in.

They'd known each other far longer and he was sure he still knew things about her that Steve didn't know yet.

True that the relationship between Steve and Natasha had gone farther than it ever did with him, Clint was sure that he could get Natasha to change her mind about who she wanted on her arm.

He was the better choice for her. She'd done more things with him than with Steve. Sure the two had more of a historical connection but that didn't mean as much as personal interactions.

Clint felt that he had learned more about Natasha than anyone else had. He was the one who brought her out of the blood spilling life she had been raised in.

When he had learned that she had fallen for Steve, at first he had believed that it was so she could somehow wipe her hands free of blood a lot faster. That somehow being with Captain America would allow her to feel good about herself and forget all of the dark things she had done.

Clint wasn't sure if Natasha felt any different about herself since being with Steve. Maybe she believed that she was creating a life she thought she wanted. That being romantically involved with the world's most perfect man let her feel that she had always been one of the good people.

"Thanks for the company, Clint." Natasha said, breaking him from his thoughts. "I feel better knowing that I have a good friend close by."

"Always, Nat." Clint said. "I'm always here for you."

_Hopefully, I'll be there for you more than the captain was able to._ he added.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**By: MysticFantasy**

**.**

**.**

It was dark when the change in guard occured. A new SHIELD security agent left the hospital room with a yawn.

Now, Clint Barton was taking his place for the rest of the night.

Once inside the hospital room, Clint made sure the door was locked and the blinds were shut. He then went over to the bedside and looked down at the sleeping soldier.

He noticed that some of the smaller wounds had already vanished or were just about to fade from sight after nearly two weeks of recovery.

_It would be so easy._ he thought to himself._ Just take away one tube or just one little slit across the throat. Too noticable though and that's the reason I won't do it right now._

_Knock, knock_

Clint turned and opened the door to see Bruce on the other side.

"Why was the door locked?" the doctor asked as he stepped in.

"Habit." Clint answered, quickly putting on a casual attitude. "I do it to myself whenever I end up in a hospital room. Keeps the docs from checking my temp with that vial and nasty rectal thermometor."

Bruce lightly chuckled before going over to check the monitors, unaware of the dark thoughts that his friend had been thinking.

"He's recovering well." he said after a few silent moments. "Guess the serum and all this rest is allowing him the time he needs to get better."

"Think he'll wake up soon?" Clint asked as he took a seat in a chair by the wall.

"Still too early to tell." Bruce answered. "Even _I_ don't know the full extent of the serums affects of the mind. I just know that it made Steve's brain run at a much faster and higher capability. Eidetic memory and such. But I'm not sure how it'll help him in other ways."

_That still gives me the time I need._ Clint thought. _I'll make sure Nat forgets about this sleeping beauty soldier. She'll be mine before he even wakes up._

"Want a coffee to help you stay awake?" Bruce asked after finishing writing the information on the medical chart.

"Sure. Thanks." Clint answered.

"No problem. I'll be back." Bruce said.

Not bothering to lock the door, Clint remained in his seat as he stared at the motionless soldier.

Although it was obvious that Steve was the literal definition of perfection, he still couldn't see what it was about him that made Natasha fall for him. They were so opposite.

He decided not to think about it. The more he would think about it, the more agitated he would become which meant he would get impatient to carry out his plan. Right now, he couldn't risk it.

The agent and Avenger kept his casual attitude when Bruce returned with a steaming cup of coffee. The two talked casually for a while, going on and off the topic of missions or anything SHIELD and Avengers related.

At about one in the morning, Bruce decided to call it a night. He bid Clint a safe and uneventful night.

When he left, Clint locked the door and dimmed the light so that there was just a soft glow from the light above Steve's bed.

For the rest of the night, Clint just stared at Steve with the gaze of a hawk and the patience of a trained agent.


End file.
